Increase Sales Conversion for Your E-commerce Startup

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

An easy method to help increase sales conversion for your E-commerce Startup

So you’ve jumped on the e-commerce bandwagon with high hopes of expanding globally and be the next big thing. Then, you begin to wonder if it’s the right move with thousands, if not millions of competitors out there. Undeniably, we’ve heard plenty of e-commerce success stories, especially those in Asia. Brands such as Zalora, Luxola and Lazada are such start-ups that have gained regional fame – in a short span of two-three years – for selling fashion, cosmetics, and almost anything under the sun in the South East Asia market. In order for your e-commerce to join the ‘hall of fame’, there is something that can be done aside from business development and brand management, which we think these brands share in common.

With businesses done online, these brands collect tons of personal data like name, address, and credit card information. Knowing that such data are susceptible to phishing, it is their top priority to safeguard the consumers’ information. Do a quick check on those websites and you’ll find that they are https:// encrypted with a SSL certificate, protected from data breach.

Covering your Backdoor

Many e-commerce startups do not realise this at the beginning as they are driven by sales. They set up their host and website, creating an amazing web user interface but fail to notice that people may not trust their site. They spend exorbitant amounts on Google Adwords hoping that it’ll bring in quick sales and business conversions, but they only see minimal results at the end of the day. This includes time and energy taken for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to optimize keywords. So instead of complicating things, why not begin with website security – the key to boost sales online.

Unsurprising, the green secure padlock and https has – for the past 20 years – been at the top left hand corner, and will be the first thing your users will see. According to a research by Nielsen Norman Group, web users spend 69% of their time viewing the left half of the page and 30% viewing the right half. The human eye reads any content that appears first at the top left hand corner, and travels horizontally, then vertically along the left-hand side. This is commonly known as the F-shape reading pattern as derived by Nielson in 2006.

If your e-commerce site lacks the SSL security protocol, your page visitors are left guessing the legitimacy of the site. With an SSL certificate, visitors will subconsciously recognise these visual cues and feel confident browsing, eventually leading them to check out.

Better Conversions with Extended Validation Certificates

Commonly, there are four types of SSL authentication:

Domain Validated

Organization Validated

Extended Validation

Self-Sign

While all SSL certificates provide https:// encryption, the authentication methods used behind them are different. For example, the Extended Validation (EV) certificates encompass all regular benefits of digitally-signed certificate with an added extended validation process, and is recognised as the gold standard for authentication and security.

The rigorous validation process includes:

Verifying that the requestor has legal rights to use the domain

Verifying that the requestor has properly authorized the issuance of the certificate

Verifying the physical existence and legal status of the requestor

Verifying that the identity of the entity matches official records

EV certificate also shows a green bar of assurance displaying an organisation’s name and is proven to boost visitors’ confidence. In a behavioral study conducted by Tech-ED, 67% of the surveyed participants said they would not buy from an unfamiliar website that didn’t have an EV SSL certificate.

According to Grace Wong, Founder and CEO of Homplify – a new e-commerce store that offers designer and lifestyle products for homeowners, and client of Cyber Secure Asia, the EV certificate is well-received by her consumers, “People have mentioned to us that they spotted the https and site seal, giving them the confidence and ease to continue shopping on our website”.

Homplify was a start-up that focused on operations and marketing, but never really thought about security. It was only when customers feedback – asking about their security protocols, did Homplify see the need for encryption.

So while sales and marketing are the driving forces behind business development for an e-commerce start-up, website credibility is an important criterion that should be looked at. It acts as a tool to increase sales conversion for many and adds on as a boost to SEO.

About Ashlee Ang

Ashlee is a content writer at Cyber Secure Asia where she writes about introductory topics on cyber security and cyber-related happenings in Singapore & South East Asia.